


Fire Plains

by Warp5Complex_Archivist



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-02-03
Updated: 2007-02-03
Packaged: 2018-08-15 22:53:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8076025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Warp5Complex_Archivist/pseuds/Warp5Complex_Archivist
Summary: Looking at the Fire Plains, he understands. (12/16/2006)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Kylie Lee, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Warp 5 Complex](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Warp_5_Complex), the software of which ceased to be maintained and created a security hazard. To make future maintenance and archive growth easier, I began importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2016. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but I may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Warp 5 Complex collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Warp5Complex).

  
Author's notes: Written for the "Sincerest Form of Flattery" Challenge at Trip/T'Polers. Author Imitated: James Joyce, "Araby."

Spoilers: 4.03 "Home"  


* * *

The Fire Plains of Vulcan, churning below them, were the most alien thing about the planet. Viscous lava seethed with an intensity that it seemed out of place in the ordered manner of the rest of the planet and, moreover, its inhabitants. As far as Trip Tucker could see, the multi-hued rocks at temperatures fatal to all know life rose and fell, playing out a dance that had been going on for millennia before he viewed it and would continue on for millennia after.

T'Pol was marrying Koss, and it would have been far, far better if she'd done it three years ago instead of playing with his heart. Inviting him to her home was too much: he thought it was a new step in their relationship, meeting her mother, and instead she was going to marry another man. The chimera below mocked him, taunting him as a fool for believing he could ever have a future with her, taunting him for believing he knew her at all. Vulcans would have the rest of the galaxy think that they were unchanging, but T'Pol was proving that they could be as fickle as the Fire Plains. He doubted that she would appreciate the irony.

In his self-absorption, he did not try to see through T'Pol's faÃ§ade, did not probe her as he had previously. It had not been successful by any means, and he wondered what kind of fool he was to believe that a human and Vulcan could have a relationship that worked. Oh, there was the other timeline, and Lorian, but that was a false hope. That they managed a relationship in an isolated ship from the future was hardly a good comparison to the world that they lived in.

A thought surface like a new patch of glowing lava: he was jealous of that other version of himself. There were a lot of other things he missed out on, but he had T'Pol's love. He pushed it back into the depths from which it came. There was nothing as useless as envying another timeline.

He could not bring himself to say anything, but continued to stare away from her at the Fire Plains, as if the place she used to frequent held the answers that only she could provide.

She had allowed him the silence, giving him the space he needed, but now approached him anew. He did not appreciate the intrusion, while wondering if it was the last time she would stand so close unless it was related to her duties.

\--We should begin the journey back. It is a dangerous path once the suns set.

He nodded mutely and looked to the edge of the Fire Plains for another moment, seeing the shadows form. He understood that he was a man who deluded himself into thinking he could have what would be forever out of his reach, and he ached with anger and regret.


End file.
